At home as effective as at work
The move to the home office has of course its logical reasons. Be it the door handle to the office, the printer or the coffee machine. We use almost all things in the office together. Viruses and bacteria can be transmitted from person to person in this way and through direct contact with colleagues. The home office eliminates these contact points. However, the following also applies to the home office: Only together can the current crisis be overcome!
But how can you work just as economically and reliably from home as at your usual workplace?
PRINCIPLES AND RULES
The most important thing should be clear to you first: The same rules and regulations apply at home as at work. Stick to your fixed core working hours, even if you are not in the office. Furthermore, you should maintain your daily and weekly rhythm and integrate rituals from your working day into your home work.
Working from home works best when you have concrete and specified tasks. Agree with your team on the daily and weekly services to be provided. Try to avoid working on a task alone and keep your supervisor informed. Communicate that you are working!
Use a collaboration tool. You should make at least one daily video call with your team if you work from your home office for an extended period of time. Basically, you need to communicate more than usual. Ask another member of the team or your supervisor instead of leaving things in the dark. Remember: There are no stupid questions!
Protect not only your health through sufficient sport and a conscious, healthy diet but also your data through security guidelines and home office contracts.
Make these contracts with all employees who go to the home office. If this should lead to data protection violations, the employer will be charged with the non-existence of a corresponding teleworking contract as an omitted organizational measure.
CONCENTRATE ON ONE'S WORK
Efficient work only works if you disregard today's constant distractions and focus entirely on your work. In the home office these distractions do not become less. It is therefore important that you define a work area and clearly separate it from your living space. Make your new workplace comfortable, but not cosy. This includes your clothing style, which you should always choose as if you were at work. The radiance of professionalism should not be lost in the home office. You should always work with conviction, your core tasks do not change in the home office, you are only exposed to different distractions than in the office. Therefore: Limit the time you spend on housework and private communication during your usual working hours to an absolute minimum. This also includes not answering the door.
CHILL OUT
In the home office, or in view of the current situation in which one only goes out the door for the most necessary things, sufficient movement is often forgotten. Yet a healthy body is a basic requirement for a healthy mind. You can counteract the home office blues by devoting ten minutes to your fitness at fixed times. For example, the Techniker Krankenkasse offers an "8 minute work-out for the office", which improves your mobility, trains your coordination and strengthens your muscles. You may be so convinced of the results that you take these daily exercise units back to the office after your home office.
Apart from sufficient exercise during your working hours, you should also remain active next to it. Current regulations on closed sports and exercise facilities should not be an excuse not to move.
LONELY, LETHARGIC OR OVERWORKED
Home office may sound tempting, but you don't have to leave the house to get to your workplace. You can enjoy a cup of coffee before you can devote yourself to your work, unstressed by traffic jams or public transport. But what is often forgotten in addition to all the comforts: the loneliness. Under normal conditions, do you often spend your lunch break with colleagues or have a quick chat in the corridor?
These interpersonal contacts can, however, be brought into your home office in a limited form. With today's technology, you can share your lunch break with your colleagues no matter how far away they are. Agree on common break times, in which you can talk about private matters in addition to business. The important thing is: Communicate!
However, conversations or video conferences with your colleagues should not distract from your tasks. You will also encounter this hurdle in your home office, as there is no better place to put things off than at home.
To counteract the lack of drive, set yourself small goals that you distribute throughout the day. At best, these small intermediate goals result in a daily goal and, on a higher level, even a weekly goal. With the right planning, you can move forward with your tasks with fun and speed.
However, it is also possible that the exact opposite, rather than a lack of drive, is creeping in. Overexertion can be just as much a part of the home office as listlessness. Check your e-mails with your first coffee? Or planning your projects for the following day while still in bed?
Your working time should not blur with your free time, nor should your workplace blur with your living space. Accustomed times, the usual amount of work and sufficient communication are the key to not getting lost in your home office.
REACT CORRECTLY - TOGETHER!
In these special times we are all challenged. Not only to slow down the spread of the coronavirus as far as possible and to protect the weakest members of our society, but also to make full use of the technological possibilities of our time.
The topics of digitalization, web and app development, as well as online marketing are essential in times of contact bans and similar socially drastic measures in order to be able to continue to act economically and reliably in the long term.
GAL Digital has been your contact for digital technologies and their marketing for over 15 years. Your environment is currently changing in all areas with unpredictable speed. Digital innovations help you not to stand still. Contact GAL Digital now and find out how digital solutions can help you to best position your business in times of crisis.